1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a reinforcement device for side doors and, more particularly, to a reinforcement device provided with reinforcement members arranged in the cavity between inner and outer panels so as to cover an impact bar, thereby more effectively absorbing the energy of an impact externally applied to the outer panel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, means for reducing the death and injury of passengers in traffic accidents has been actively studied recently. Front-end collisions of automobiles are generally considered most serious in traffic accidents, but automobile fatalities statistics according to side collisions show a yearly increase.
Thus, in order to reduce the death and injury of passengers in side collisions of automobiles, NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) in USA has enacted a reinforced law in relation to a safety standard for side collisions of automobiles. Such a safety standard is identical to the safety standard of automobiles in KOREA.
Therefore, in order to meet with the above safety standard for automobiles, an impact bar, a kind of reinforcement member, is mounted in the interior of the side door. Such an impact bar is a pipe made of a high strength steel. Preferably, the impact bar has a light weight, excellent productivity and high flexural rigidity.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, an example of such an impact bar is schematically illustrated. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an impact bar 16, having a pipe-configuration, is mounted to an outer panel 12 in such a manner that both ends of the impact bar 16 are mounted to the inner surface of the outer panel 12 by two support brackets 14 and 15. In addition, an upper reinforcement member 13, having a flanges 13A, 13B at each side, is provided between inner and outer panels 11 and 12 in such a manner that both flanges of the upper reinforcement member 13 are welded to the outer panel 12 at a position above the impact bar 16. As a result, when any impact is externally applied to the outer panel 12, the upper torso and the pelvis of a passenger may be somewhat effectively protected from such an impact energy.
However, such a conventional impact bar has problems as will be described below. That is, the impact bar 16 fails to uniformly and effectively distribute the impact energy, externally applied to the outer panel, because both ends of the impact bar 16 are only supported by the brackets 14 and 15. Thus, even when a small impact is externally applied to the outer panel 12, the side door of the automobile is easily destroyed and forcibly pushed into a passenger compartment. As a result, a passenger may be easily injured. Therefore, the safety and reliability factors of the automobile are reduced.